Indianapolis DPW crews finish second week of emergency road repairs

Indianapolis DPW crews finish second week of emergency road repairs

INDIANAPOLIS – Roughly 50,000 potholes have been treated so far by crews over the last two weeks as workers repair damaged roads from the winter. The work is part of a $14 million effort that began back on February 26.

To date, according to Indianapolis Department of Public Works director Dan Parker, workers have used 1,500 tons of asphalt for potholes and another 13,000 tons for strip-patching roads.

“It’s a deep, 4.5 inches to nine inches of asphalt,” Parker said. “So, it’s much thicker and more lasting than just filling in the chuckholes themselves.”

Work this week included finishing a section of Franklin Road, between 10th and Washington streets.

Crews were seen Friday afternoon at Rockville Road, between Washington Street and Lynhurst Drive, and on Dean Street, south of 86th Street.

“We know there is still more work to do,” Parker said. “We still have to get through the rest of our major thoroughfares and then we need to start on our secondary streets. Ultimately, as we get closer to spring, we will be moving into our residential areas.”

Work was forced to shut down for a couple days this week due to freezing temperatures and snow. The fear was some of the recent work would not hold up due to the weather, but that has not been the case so far, according to DPW’s director.

The funding for the last two weeks will also allow crews to re-surface Capitol Ave., between 18th Street and the Fall Creek bridge. Work is expected to begin Monday.

“So many people are using Capitol because of Meridian Street being closed for the Citizens Energy Group project,” Parker said. Having that resurfaced is going to be a benefit to a lot of drivers coming in from the north side.”

The decision was made after one section was strip-patched and workers decided it would cost less to resurface the road, curb-to-curb, over the handful of blocks.

The work is expected to last approximately a week.

Crews should return to work Saturday for strip-patching, while potholes will be filled in again starting Monday.